The Crows appear to be playing better football across the park this season, but with a particular a focus on team defence.

The Crows are also unselfish in attack, spreading the load through midfield and pouncing on turnovers, but also protecting the ball with their slicker disposal – a long-standing bugbear of fans.

Adelaide's contested ball differential has fallen from nearly +10 (third in the AFL) last year to almost -2 (ninth in the AFL) after a raft of list changes at the Club over the summer.

But they are holding their own, with many impressive youngsters joining a few evergreen veterans to help carry the load.

Scott Thompson has been in vintage touch and remains a beast around the ball. Rory Sloane is winning more of it out of the centre square, and the emerging supporting cast in Matt Crouch, his brother Brad, Jarryd Lyons, Rory Atkins and ex-Magpie Paul Seedsman are all stepping up after playing just 50 games between them in 2015.

The midfield is deeper than many originally gave credit, while defensively the Crows are fighting against the odds.

The backline has been put under the pump, conceding the third most inside 50s competition-wide and the 10th-most points.

Despite the barrage of incoming ball, Adelaide isn't allowing opposition marks inside 50 (seventh fewest marks against, up from 12th last year) and the Crows are scoring enough on the counter-attack when the Sherrin hits the deck or is intercepted to paper over the cracks.

Scoring 'out the back' is the modern way, and the Crows are perfecting ballistic slingshot footy.

Electric Eddie Betts and new sidekick Wayne Milera terrorise defenders, Josh Jenkins and Tom Lynch are no slouches, while raw 191cm young gun Mitch McGovern has added to arguably the most damaging forward setup in the game.

The usual suspects Betts (13 goals), Jenkins (11), Lynch (10) and Taylor Walker (9) are hitting the scoreboard, but McGovern (five) and Richard Douglas (five) are also chipping in to the AFL's second most potent offence.

The Crows boast the AFL's second-most potent offence – only undefeated North Melbourne has scored more – however Adelaide is facing another huge challenge to prove its can match it with the best against Hawthorn at the MCG.

When the teams met in last year's Semi-Final, Adelaide endured a 74-point humbling.

On Friday night, we'll see just how far the Crows have come.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs